Amazon Web Services

Phat Cat

Does anyone have any experience of working for AWS in Dublin?

I applied for a Support Engineer role and have been given a date for a phone interview and was wondering what to expect from the interview process and what the actual AWS department was like to work in.

An approximate estimate on salary, bonuses, working hours, culture, etc would be very helpful.

Cheers in advance.

Raekwon

A former colleague of mine works for Amazon in Cork and a friend of mine recently interviewed for a Software Development Engineer role in Dublin.

From what I gathered Amazon usually do two to three separate technical phone screening interviews that last around around an hour each. If you get passed them you'll be invited onsite for several 1:1 interviews with different people.

The interviews are similar to Google's approach and are long and drawn out and are suppose to be very, very tough with lots of random questions to catch you off guard and make you think outside of the box.

It's also suppose to be a very high pressure place to work where only the best and brightest people survive. The hours are also suppose to be really long too and 50+ hour weeks are pretty much the norm.

In AWS they work in shifts and the patterns are something like Tuesday to Saturday or Sunday to Thursday working from either 7am until 3pm or 3pm until 11pm, but nobody ever leaves at those times.

Also the support roles are apparently 24/7 and you need to have a pager on at all times even when you are not working plus you are expected to answer emails outside of the office.

I have no idea about salaries or bonuses structures but I'd say they would really need to be paying people silly money to work there. That's only my opinion as it seems very stressful and not everybody enjoys the 'live to work' lifestyle. Then again some people love it plus there is always the factor of having the name Amazon on your CV.

Anyway there is lots more of information on the likes of www.glassdoor.com & www.careercup.com if you're interested.

Best of luck

Phat Cat

So it's not a great place to work? I'm really surprised at that as I thought that Amazon was suppose to be a great place to work and on par with Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Twitter, IBM, PayPal/eBay, etc?

The interviewer did attach a .pdf, to the email arranging my interview, that went through what to expect from the interview and it did seem quite daunting to be honest. Plus I had a read on that Glass Door website and most people echo your sentiments about working there, ie very long hours, lots of pointless meetings, bureaucracy, etc.

I'll give the interview a go anyway, sure it will an experience at the very least, but I'm kind of deflated about the whole thing now to be honest.

Willbbz

Any update on how your interview went?

I have an interview myself in two days for a customer support role which is a bit different but it seems they have the same kind of interview process where there are two interviews and a written assessment.

su27

I also applied for Support Engineer role but its painful to get through AWS recruiters. They propose phone interview date and time and when I reply nobody writes back. I'm wondering if it's whole company working that way or I have just bad luck with this one person...

phoenix999

Phat Cat wrote: »

Does anyone have any experience of working for AWS in Dublin?

I applied for a Support Engineer role and have been given a date for a phone interview and was wondering what to expect from the interview process and what the actual AWS department was like to work in.

An approximate estimate on salary, bonuses, working hours, culture, etc would be very helpful.

Cheers in advance.

I worked in Amazon for 4 months in their customer service department. The training was excellent and the people were nice. However, would not compare it to Google, Microsoft etc. Salary was rather poor, toilet breaks etc. we're timed, disciplinary points given when you called in sick. Constantly under pressure to achieve targets and be available to take calls. Also a lot of abuse from UK based customers. I was offered a full time contract but left as I just didn't feel like I could do it long term.

su27

Any update, anyone got the job?

su27

Bumping. After 3 phone screens got invitation to face to face. Anyone want to share their interview experiences?

Willbbz

I had an interview there that lasted 3 hours. Was really good, met with 3 people whom I spoke with for the barebones of 40 minutes and had a written interview which was to just answer a template customer support e-mail. Really nice people there and it looks like a great place to work! Unfortunately I couldn't do the 40 hour week with College.

I never got a phone screen though which is strange if you're applying for the same position.

su27

Willbbz wrote: »

I never got a phone screen though which is strange if you're applying for the same position.

I don't live in Ireland - that may be the reason for phone screens

Anyway, on-site interview lasted 5 hours and it was quite challenging. I don't know the results yet. Anyone else waiting for their answer?

aman1782

Hi Guys,

Can you please share your phone interview experience. what questions they have asked for AWS Cloud Support Engineer interview ?

Thanks in Advance

pcfreaker

Hi,

I also participated in 3 phone screens and I'm awaiting the invitation to face to face interview.

I am applying for AWS Cloud Support Engineer as well.

Do you know how long do they take in sending the invitation?, how is the process since I live out of Ireland.

RealistSpy

The whole process should take less than a month and the pay is very very good

pcfreaker

Thanks for the update, but the pay might be more than the initial amount I could have said I expected?

Kinet1c

Anyone have any insight in to what working in AWS support is like? Good learning experience? Sufficient salary? If you don't want to post publicly then PM me. Thanks.

Hobbes

phoenix999 wrote: »

toilet breaks

A person I know actually worked for an Irish company where they had fixed toilet breaks (about 10 years ago). He got a written warning for going to the toilet out of the break time. So he spoke to a lawyer.

In the EU your boss cannot prevent you from going to the toilet. It's a right. His company had to abolish the rule. They can however question where there are excessive toilet breaks, so it's not like you can take the p***.

So I am very surprised Amazon have that.

SPM1959

The poster said toilet breaks were timed. I worked in a role before where that was the case. You could still take them but they were monitored and used as part of performance reviews etc.

Svetti Arss

I interviewed for an AWS position. 1 hour phone technical screen, 1 hour phone screen with hiring manager + 6 or 7 1:1 interviews on-site.

Most interviews went well apart from the interview with the senior person from outside the department. All very nice people apart from him (pure tosser) although I got the impression they were all under pressure.

I didn't get the job and would not do the experience again. There are tons of companies desperate for staff in this country and most of them don't have a torturous interview process. I got my current position after 2 interviews.

The recruiters in Amazon I dealt with were unprofessional and have heard the same from other people.

abhy

Hi Guys,

Just received an interest from them today for the position I applied for - Cloud Support Associate. They are scheduling the interview process now and I was wondering if anyone has cleared the same? Is Cloud Support Engineer different from Cloud Support Associate?

She says there will be 2 telephonic technical ones followed by a last 1:1 session in their office.

Preferred Qualification in the job description reads -

· Knowledge of Cloud Computing concepts
· Experience with AWS
· Experience with scripting / programing
· Experience with database administration

UmBongolo

Greetings,

Very helpful topic as Glassdoor sucks on this matter. So I got pass the phone interviews (applied for the Cloud Support Engineer) and I am having this week the on-site interview. I have no idea what salary I should ask for given the high cost of living in Dublin, I have never lived outside my country so this is a leap-of-faith for me. I also don't want to go below or above their budget for this.

Also I am not sure if they are offering a full salary package(before tax) or money-in-the-pocket(after-tax).

A little bit of help would be great here. PM me if you don't want to post the info on the board.

Thanks

shakin

UmBongolo wrote: »

Greetings,

Very helpful topic as Glassdoor sucks on this matter. So I got pass the phone interviews (applied for the Cloud Support Engineer) and I am having this week the on-site interview. I have no idea what salary I should ask for given the high cost of living in Dublin, I have never lived outside my country so this is a leap-of-faith for me. I also don't want to go below or above their budget for this.

Also I am not sure if they are offering a full salary package(before tax) or money-in-the-pocket(after-tax).

A little bit of help would be great here. PM me if you don't want to post the info on the board.

Thanks

Salary wont be mentioned until/if an offer of employment is made. dont ask in the interview, as they wont discuss.

Rembrandt Q. Einstein

Hi,

I applied for a Software Development Engineer role in Dublin and got past the "Coding Challenge" stage. I am now scheduled for a technical phone interview. Has anyone here had this technical phone interview for the Software Development Engineer role? If so what kind of things do they ask about? If someone could also fill me in about salary info that would be great. FYI I have 3 years experience.